[nfbwatlk] [Wcb-l] follow up on Francis Pearson

[debby phillips]

Thought you guys might find this interesting, too.    Debby
 ---- Original Message ------
From: "Carl Jarvis" <carjar82 at gmail.com
Subject: [Wcb-l] follow up on Francis Pearson
Date sent: Wed, 26 Sep 2012 10:57:20 -0700

    From the Braille Monitor, September 1966.
*note: Francis Pearson was Chairman of the Public Utilities 
Commission.  He
had been in the state legislature, but I can't find that 
notation.  Anyway,
this is a fun peek into our past.
Carl Jarvis

WASHINGTON ASSOCIATION HOLDS CONVENTION
Members of the 12 local chapters of the Washington State 
Association of the
Blind gathered at the Monte Cristo Hotel in Everett from August 
4th to 6th
for their 31st Annual State Convention.  A rich agenda was 
provided through
the efforts of Gerhard G.  Ruben, executive secretary of the 
convention
committee, and ably presided over by President Wesley M.  
Osborne.

Some convention highlights were:

New concepts in law enforcement were discussed by Robert 
Schillberg,
prosecuting attorney of Snohomish County.  Francis Pearson, 
chairman of the
Washington State Public Utilities and Transportation Commission 
(and himself
blind) discussed the past achievements of the WSAB and suggested 
some next
steps.  Perry Sundquist, a member of the Executive Committee of 
the National
Federation of the Blind and backstopping for President Jacobus 
tenBroek who
was unable to attend because of illness, discussed practical 
approaches to
improving State services for the blind in Washington.

More than 100 persons attended the banquet at which Lt.  Governor 
John A.
Cherberg and Perry Sundquist were the speakers.

D.  L.  Archer, executive vice president of the Association of 
Western Pulp
and Paper Workers, presented greetings from labor and drew 
telling parallels
between his union's experiences and the difficulties which the 
organized
blind often encounter with agencies.  An international panel on 
the status of
the blind in several countries was participated in by the consul 
generals of
Austria, Germany, Great Britain and Japan.

The convention adopted resolutions supporting the enactment into 
law of the
Model White Cane Law, endorsing without any reservations the 
struggle of the
Seattle White Cane Association to remain masters of its own 
destiny in spite
of COMSTAC, urging the transfer of services for the blind from 
the State
Department of Public Assistance to the Department of 
Rehabilitation,
supporting the raising of funds for the building of a 
headquarters structure
for WSAB, the amendments to Aid to the Blind statutes to provide 
for the
granting of the maximum exemptions permitted by federal laws and
regulations, and opposing the transfer of the Washington State 
School for
the Blind in Vancouver from the Department of Institutions to the 
Department
of Education.

Richard Gustafson of Vancouver was elected president for the 
ensuing year;
Tom Gronning of Seattle, vice president; Nadine Lessard, 
Vancouver,
secretary, and Nellie Couch, Olympia, treasurer.  Wesley Osborne 
of Tacoma is
the Legislative chairman; Sam McGre of Everett, the Organization 
chairman;
Margaret Osborne, Tacoma, the Public Relations chairman; Earl 
Madding,
Seattle, the Ways and Means chairman, and Oscar Mortenson, 
Seattle, the
Welfare chairman.

President Gustafson will be the delegate to the 1967 NFB 
Convention in Los
Angeles, and Tom Gronning was elected alternate delegate.  Tacoma 
was
unanimously selected as the convention city for the 1967 meeting 
of the
WSAB.